Imphal, March 28 : The third front will sit in the Opposition and not join any group that will come to power in New Delhi after Lok Sabha elections.

Announcing this today at the end of his three-day visit here, CPI leader A.B. Bardhan said: “We hope to fare well in the elections. If we cannot win majority of seats, we will not join the UPA or the NDA. We will play the role of the Opposition effectively. The decision is final.”

Bardhan left this morning after campaigning for Moirangthem Nara Singh, the CPI candidate in the Inner Manipur parliamentary constituency.

The CPI leader kicked off Nara’s election campaign at a public meeting at Khuman Lampak on Wednesday and met the representatives of polling booth-level election committees of the party yesterday.

The objective of the third front was to provide an alternative to the UPA and the NDA, the veteran Left leader said. “There cannot be a two-party system in India. We do not accept it because of the diversity of the country. There are regional aspirations and regional parties have a say in national politics.”

When asked why the third front could not name its prime ministerial candidate, Bardhan said Prime Ministers were elected by the MPs and not by the electorate.

“What is the point of announcing it now? There will not be any problem in choosing a leader by the MPs if the third front could muster a majority,” he argued.

The CPI had been demanding scrapping of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, Bardhan said, adding his party would continue to do so until the act was scrapped.

“We had spoken to Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and then home minister Shivraj Patil and explained to them the need to scrap the act. But they did not listen to us.”

The act enforced only in the Northeast and Kashmir had not only alienated the youths and harmed the people but failed to contain the problem of militancy, he added.

“The stand of the CPI is clear. The act should be scrapped and the Jeevan Reddy Commission Report should be fully implemented.”

Asked why the CPI continues to share power with the Congress in Manipur after it withdrew support from the UPA government at the Centre, Bardhan cited several reasons.

He said Manipur is a border state that had never witnessed political stability for many years. The state also had multifarious problems, Bardhan added.

“So the CPI decided to support the Congress to usher in political stability in Manipur. The CPI will continue to be in this arrangement in the state until the Congress tells us to leave.”

The CPI and the Congress are having a friendly fight in the Inner Manipur seat.